This is an old One shot I had laying around in my drafts, I thought I never finished, but apparently I did! So enjoy this.

"NATASHA!"

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The ringing in their ears was damaging. What was supposed to be an easy evac mission for the Avengers, turned out to be a deadly bomb threat, and they acted on the threat. 

"Is everyone okay?" Steve asked pushing some of the debris surrounding him away so he could get out.

"Aye Captain," Thor responded first. "Hawkeye is also with me, my friend,"

"Little damage on the suit but I'll survive," Tony replied.

"Bruce?" Steve asked.

"Still on the jet," Bruce replied. "Would this be considered a code green?" He asked.

"No, not yet," Steve replied. "Romanoff, do you copy?" He asked realizing she was the only one who had yet to respond. There was still no response from her after a minute. "Does anyone have eyes on Nat?" Last he saw her she was fighting a group of operates.

"Negative," They all responded. Steve almost lost his breath. She had to be okay.

"Begin search and rescue," Steve stated.

"What about the bombers?" Thor asked. Steve was standing around the people who bombed the building.

"Don't worry, they are dead. Find Natasha, if she isn't responding she is gonna need medical and fast." Steve said. "If you have any sign of her signal me on the coms." They all agreed and started their urgent search for the spy.

After almost an hour of searching, moving debris, Steve found her lying under a large piece of rock. Her leg impacted from a pole, and she had cuts all over her.

With his heart racing, he started to throw things away from her trying to free her from her trap.
"I found her guys, north of the building, it's bad guys, evac has to be quick, the moment I move the boulder on her legs she gonna lose a lot of blood."

"On our way Cap," Tony replied.

"Hawkeye, Bruce, Startup the ship, we are gonna need to leave right away. Someone notify Cho to prepare for surgery." Steve was speaking in a panic as he worked of stopping the bleeding on her head. He ended up ripping a part of his suit and wrapping it around his head.

"Steve I am here," Tony announced he looked over at the spy's condition, "This is gonna have to be the fasted evac we ever have done, this boulder is actually keeping her alive, and the moment we move it, she will be in a critical condition."

"Okay, we move together." Steve said to Thor, "Tony I am gonna need you to grab her, fly her to the plane, me and Thor will be right behind you," He pressed his finger to the com, "Bruce get some bandage ready, we won't have time to wait for Cho if she is bleeding out too much,"

"Got it cap."

"On the count of three, we save our girl," Tony said as the men nodded their heads.

"One"

"Two"

"Three,"

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Fifteen hours.

"Is surgery even supposed to take this long?" Steve asked out of frustration. He was nervous, he had heard nothing from anyone about his partner. He was worried and scared.

"Steve, she is has a lot of injuries, they are probably making sure nothing else will happen," Tony told him, in an attempt to calm him down.

"No... a normal surgery would take an hour, if not half of this. Tony what if something is seriously wrong with her? What if-"

"Steve doesn't focus on the what if," Clint stated. "I know you are worried, damn we all are. But us freaking out right now, is doing nothing for her."

He was trying his best to keep his cool, but on the way over here Natasha was covered in blood. Her face was pale and cold, her breath was decreasing dramatically. It was all so scary. He was just so worried.

An hour later.

"Natasha had major internal bleeding," Cho was explaining all of the serious injuries that have happened to Natasha. "At least seven, broken ribs," Steve's heart clenched at everything she said.

"Please tell me that is the worst of it," Tony said desperately.

"She is very strong, her cells seemed to be healing themselves, however, that caused a problem for our team. You see her body was trying to stop the bleeding in her legs, and so where we, and that caused a serious issue."

"Issue? What kind of issue?" Clint asked quickly.

"Her legs, we had two different surgeries on them. Her body was just not working with us," Cho explained, but they knew there was more, and Cho was sparring them.

"Okay, and what does this all mean?" Steve asked.

"It means we don't know if she will ever be able to walk again."

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Steve sat in front of Natasha's hospital bed, she had been in a coma for at least five days, and Steve made sure he was always by her side. He didn't want her to wake up alone.

He never wanted her to feel alone, so he talked to her every night and every morning. He knew that this was pointless to some people, considering she was asleep, but he just felt like she could feel his presence. And so when she woke up she had him there.

"You really scared me out there," Steve said as Natasha laid her head on the pillow and stared at him. "I thought that I was gonna lose you, and the thought alone scared me," They were waiting for the others to come up with the doctor. Steve was glad to be alone with her when she first woke up.

With a smirk on her face, she replied, "You can't lose me that easily. No building can take me down," words he wishes she remembers later.

"I think the others know about us," He said taking her hand into his. She shook her head.

"I am gone for five minutes and you let our secret go?" She joked with him. Steve gave her a smile, that made her smile.

"I was worried, and I am guessing I was a little too worried for a friend," Steve said. "But I don't care, I was scared, nothing could hide that," He said.

"What is wrong with me?" She asked finally switching the topic, Steve knew that pain medication she was under while she was asleep was wearing off now that she woke up, probably beginning to feel her legs. "I feel...weird."

"Nat, I think it's better if you have the doctor explained this all to you," he didn't want to be the one to tell her.

"My leg's Steve... They feel... I can't feel my legs," She started to panic, something Steve has never seen before. She has always been one for controlling her emotions.

"Ms. Romanoff," She looked up to see the doctor walking in, the guys staying out the door. Steve understood that he should leave, but he couldn't leave Natasha there alone, luckily Cho didn't care. "you are suffering from a concussion, from your fall, you also had a multitude of cuts and bruises. As you can see your arm is sprained, but due to your body's healing process it should be good within the week or two."

"why do I have a feeling that there is more," Natasha asked.

"This is all the positive, those will heal, however, your legs were impaled. After many surgeries, and different views from different doctors it seems as if you are now suffering from Femoral Neuropathy." She explained. "You seemed to have damaged the femoral nerve, and have lost all feeling in your legs."

"What does this mean? Can you fix it? Will I be able to walk again?" She asked.

"Natasha we are working, I am contacting doctors from all across the world, but none of them believe you can walk again,"

Sad was not how she would describe her state. The devastation was never something she was good at. She wasn't mad at the doctors, more at herself. She wasn't happy obviously. She didn't know what she was. She was in shock.

But when the doctor left, leaving her alone with Steve, she realized she felt useless. How could do anything without her legs? She was a spy, she couldn't very well spy in a wheelchair! When Steve wrapped his arms around her it only made her feel worthless, and only then did she allow herself to cry.

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1 week later

"Has anyone seen Nat?" Steve was worried when he woke up and she was not there beside him.

"No I haven't seen her all morning," Clint answered.

"Don't worry, that's why we have Jarvis," Tony explained, a new feature designed specifically for little red, just to keep her safe. "Jarvis, locate agent Romanoff,"

"Miss Romanoff is in the gym sir," He answered and the other immediately went to the gym. Natasha had been sneaking away lately to try and train her legs to walk, nothing was seeming to work through and the others made her take a break. Apparently, she wasn't too keen on that idea.

In the gym, Natasha was standing at the two bars set up by the personal trainer to help her walk again. She was still in a wheelchair and Steve didn't like her sneaking away in case she got hurt and he couldn't help her. He knew that she could help herself but he preferred being there for her. 

He stood by the gym door frowning. Natasha was trying to pull herself up, her arm muscles were tensing showing off her defined muscles. She grunted in pain and that made Steve's legs started walking toward her. 

"What are you doing here alone," he asked. 

"What does it look like?" She asked. 

"Natasha you're only supposed to be in here with the personal trainer. 

"Personal trainer? Steve, I am the Black Widow. I don't need a personal trainer!" She said. She attempted again to pull herself up this time her arms gave up on her and she came crashing to the ground, Steve moved fast to catch her before she landed on her legs and hurt herself even more. He held her and put her on the ground, him kneeling in front of her. 

"I think it's time you take a break." 

"No." She said. "I need to train. I need to get better." 

"Why? Why is it so important for you to get better? Over your own health." 

"Because if I am better I can protect myself. If I am better I can't be hurt again! If I am better then there won't be the next time. I need to protect myself!" 

"Protect yourself? Natasha, I am here, no one is going to hurt you." 

"What about when you aren't there? What am I supposed to do if you get hurt? How can I protect you if I am injured as well? If I get better chances of your survival increases." 

"I don't care about me right now-" 

"Then how can you expect me to care about myself?" She asked. "How can you expect me to care about if I get rest right now." 

"What's going on Nat?" 

"I .." Her voice faded off. 

"What is it?" He asked pushing on. 

"I don't like feeling like I am helpless." She said, almost in a mumble. If it wasn't for Steve's super-soldier hearing he probably wouldn't have heard her. "I don't like feeling like I am broken, it scares me." 

"Please, if I know you, you are anything but helpless." 

"You never know." She sighed. "Do you know why in that building?" 

"You were casing the operates." He recalled. "I never did figure out why the bomb was in that building though, it was too far away from the main command, I've been trying to figure that out." 

"Because it wasn't supposed to be there." She said looking at him. "It was originally near you. I found it, and Tony and Thor were too far away to deal with it, and I knew because of how distracted you were and how high up you were, that it would kill you. I made the choice to take it and move it." 

"Why would you do that?" He asked. "You could have died." 

"But you would have survived." She clarified. "I have to get better because this was a one-time thing, Steve. If it happens again I might not be able to protect you, and you dying scares the shit out of me." 

"And you think you dying doesn't scare me?" He asked. "Natasha, I don't want you risking your life for me." 

"The world needs you more then they need me." 

"But what about what I need?" He asked. "Listen I love you," He pressed. "I love you and you are the only thing that makes sense in this stupid world. You are the only person who makes me feel somewhat complete and if you're gone I don't know what I'm going to do." 

"I need to get better Steve. Faster. I need to be out there with you," this time it was Natasha pressing him. "I need to have your back." 

"You need to protect yourself." He said. "I am fine. I have Thor, Bruce, Tony, and Clint. We are all a team looking out for each other." He put his hand on her cheek. "I love that you worry about me but you don't have to." 

"I don't know what I am doing." She admitted. "I've never been in a relationship. I can't lose you, you're important to me." 

"This was nothing we prepared for, I don't think we could even prepare for it. Not with the life we leave. but I think it's important for us to establish that we can't put ourselves in harm's way for each other." He said, knowing full well neither of them could hold that promise. "At least promise me that you talk with me, and we'll figure out." 

"There won't always be time for talking she said," Steve smiled and put his forehead on hers. 

"We'll figure it out." He said. "But in the meantime can you please go rest?" He asked. Natasha smiled and pecked his lips. 

"You're too good for me." She whispered. 

"Never," He responded and helped her sit back in the wheelchair. Things were going to be difficult but they would figure it out, he was sure of it. Together they had to. 

"Steve." She said. Steve looked down raising an eyebrow. "I love you too."